Shhh! | What impact could office noise be having on your workforce?

Colleagues chatting. Office printers and copiers. Phones ringing off the hook. The tapping of keyboards. Pinging microwaves. The hum of the air-conditioning unit. If you’ve ever worked in an office environment, you will be used to some (or all) of these noises.

While a bit of disturbance in the workplace is inevitable, research has highlighted the extent that office noises are actually stopping workers from getting on with their jobs, as well as the tactics they use to combat these distractions.

Noisy offices & employee gripes

A new study from Oscar Acoustics has found that just eight per cent of employees work in a quiet office, with only one-quarter of office workers working in a space that has been well designed for their job.

The office sounds that are most likely to stop employees from working effectively included colleagues talking to each other (38%) and other people on calls (34%) also .

Colleagues eating (21%), co-workers singing or humming (19%), and a similar number troubled by the other bodily sounds, such as scratching, were also identified as other distracting sounds.

Aside from the actions of co-workers, the office design also had a part to play in this.